Wommack talks about the Rebels’ defense | Ole Miss Sports

I’m about to head over to Oxford for this morning’s practice and will have an update on the blog this afternoon.

Co-defensive coordinator Dave Wommack evaluated his defense to this point following Saturday’s scrimmage. It’s a unit that has produced a lot of turnover in camp. While that’s not good for the offense, it creates a sense of hope for the defense.

Still a lot of work to be done, Wommack says, but he talks about his players here. …

Dave Wommack

We’ve been able to get a lot of turnovers. The kids have played better with their eyes. We have a long way to go as far as that is concerned, but we’ve gotten a lot of turnovers in fall camp. We need to continue that.

(Thought on Senquez Golson at corner?)

I look at Senquez as a true freshman, because we didn’t have him in the spring, extremely talented. He’s working at it. I think he’s behind a lot of the guys on defense, not just his position, just because he hasn’t had as many reps, but he’s talented, we’re pushing him, and he’s coming in an learning extra. He’s working at it.

(Does the athleticism overcome the lack of reps?)

Probably, at this point. That’s a good observation. There’s no doubt. I like him and Wes.

(Shifts to Pendleton here)

Wes had a good spring. You don’t notice Wes a lot, and that’s a good sign for a corner. We got him on the boundary, he’s a little bit bigger and more physical guy. He just needs to keep getting better, do things the way we do them and break some bad habits, but he’s making improvement.

(On Issac Gross)

He’s been a pleasant surprise. From 3-on-3 the other day, I think the first day we did it, he probably did it better than anybody out here. He has really great quickness. We have to make a quick (redshirt) decision coming up on him, and we’ll do that as a staff, but he’s showing us a lot. He’s playing a lot, and he’s picking things up extremely quick. We’re really happy with him right now. He’s way ahead for a freshman.

(How much do you worry about his size, 6-3, 270?)

I worry about it, but we move around so much on defense, but in this league, that can be an issue. I’m not going to lie. I wish he was 25 or 30 pounds heavier, but we’ll get there. It is what it is right now.

(Linebackers?)

I see kind of playing all of them at this point. I think (Aaron) Garbutt’s probably showed up as much as anybody throughout the whole camp, being consistent and running and doing what we need him to do.

Right now, if we started tomorrow, it would be a by committee kind of thing. I’d like to see someone really step up at Mike linebacker all the way through. We’ve got 20 more days. We have to get those things done.

(Safeties?)

Cody’s (Prewitt) been the one who’s stepped up as much as anybody. You’d like to have a bigger, physical guy, and he’s one of the ones we have who is 214 right now. I think we have a misconception on Cody, because last spring, I think it was the second practice, he turned his ankle real bad. I was really concerned about him in the summer being able to do what we need him to do, but boy, he’s been the QB for us, running the show. He’s made some mistakes, but he’s really coming along.

Losing Charles (Sawyer) we’ve been hunting for that other position, the rover. We moved Chief (Brown) over there, we had the two young guys there earlier in the week. Trae Elston is making a lot of improvement. It always scares you playing a young guy in the secondary early in the season, but we’re in this situation.